Beverage producer Nongfu Spring said yesterday that test results claiming that the company’s fruit juice products contained dangerous levels of arsenic were manipulated, state media reported. Zhong Shanshan, chairman of Nongfu Spring, said in an interview that the provenance of the original testing samples is questionable. "Even if the final test was accurate, it was absent of legitimacy. I have no idea where the sample products came from," he said. The original warning was issued by the Haikou Industrial and Commercial Administration Bureau in Hainan province on November 24, but the bureau recalled its original claim of arsenic contamination after a re-test by the Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine contradicted the findings and said the products, including fruit juices made by Nongfu Spring and Taiwan-based drink maker Uni-President were safe for consumption. All the implicated products had already been pulled off the shelves in Haikou, which Nongfu Spring estimated cost the company over US$146 million. China’s Food Safety Law says that health administration authorities, not industrial and commercial watchdogs, are responsible for food safety warnings. Hainan authorities have begun an investigation into the law enforcement procedures of Haikou’s Industrial and Commercial Administration Bureau.
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